28th October 2018 - autumnal pots and clearing the polytunnel

Over the last couple of weeks I've been focused on clearing and planting new pots for both the garden and the allotment.  Despite having 2 allotments my garden at home is a bit of a disgrace!  Mr L doesn't want to have a proper garden and so at the front it's covered with slate and while I did have some pots I forgot to water them during the summer and they all ended up drying up.  I decided to use grasses as my focal plant and build around them.  I love the ornamental cabbages and used them across all the pots and I added solar lights to brighten it up in the evening.

I'm really pleased with how they turned out, I think they're really pretty; the purple in the cabbages and the purple fountain grass (them main grass in the top left picture above) really compliment the slate in the garden.  Both of these arrangements are close to the house and I'm thinking about moving the one in the top right closer to the fence.

In the allotment I have planted the table outside of my shed with a heuchera, some Christmas roses, 2 white cyclamen and some ivy.  This table already has a hellebore in it but I think that one is pink, rather than the white of the Christmas roses but it should still look nice against the heuchera and I could add some pink cyclamen to balance the colours if I think it needs them.

In front of the table I have 2 pots that I've again planted with a mix of grasses and ornamental cabbages.  I've used primula to fill the gaps and ivy to spill over and mirror the planting table; I've also used a yellow capsicum for colour; I don't know if it will overwinter but I think it's really striking and the clashing colours against the purple grass.

I have moved the fig, peach and lemon trees into the polytunnel to overwinter.  I know the fig is hardy but I think it fruits better if I've had it inside and the peach needs to be inside to avoid peach curl in the spring.  I'm also assuming that the lemon tree would be better indoors.  I've also brought in my wisteria which is still quite small and in a terracotta pot so again, while I know it's hardy I wasn't sure if it would survive the winter outside.

Every year I also give the polytunnel a good clean.  It's always amazing to me how much dirt is collected on the floor; I usually sweep it up but it's usually quite hard.  This year I tried using a trowel and dustpan which was very successful.  I also gathered up the old and broken pots to throw them out.  Unfortunately they can't be recycled and so I can only throw them away but I have used them until they're beyond being used any more.  I have still got a big stack of pots under the staging that I'll use or give away.  It's very difficult to keep use of pots to a minimum when every time you buy a plant it's in a pot that can't be recycled.  

A nationwide pot recycling scheme is being launched, garden centres can join to recycle pots and many of the plant=carrying trays for reprocessing into other products.  You can find out more information about it in the following link.  http://tinyurl.com/y7pplrxz

I've also been busy planting my winter onions in the bed that I had my potatoes in.  There is still a pepper plant in there that has 1 last pepper on it.  I don't know if it will ripen, or survive if there's more frost but I didn't want to pull it up while it was still growing and healthy.  I may try potting it and putting it into the polytunnel to see if I can overwinter it.

Along the side of the bed I've also planted approx 50 more onion sets in pots ready to be planted into a bed in 86a when it's ready.  I have some garlic that also needs planting into that bed and I think I'm going to have to put them into pots for now to get them going or it will be too late to plant them.

I still need to spend time clearing the paths and generally tidying up.  I've neglected some of the weeding this year and I want to try and get back on top of it before next season starts.  I'm also keen to sort out the fence between 85a and 84, which is extremely overgrown and because it's multiple layers of chicken wire it is impossible to clear.  I want to take the whole lot down and re-do it with a single layer of chicken wire; which will be much easier to manage.  I will have to wait until the perennials have died back and then I can get in to cut back the brambles before taking out the fence.  This winter I need to get 86a sorted so this might end up being a job for next winter but we'll see how it goes.

I'll try to do better at blogging over winter and especially as I'm hoping to get things down on 86a, hopefully I'll have more to update you on that I have in previous years so until next time...

Happy Gardening x